THE FOUNDATION
"It is on great occasions only, and after time has been given for cool and deliberate reflection, that the real voice of the people can be known." --George Washington, letter to Edward Carrington, 1796TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
Illegal Minors and MS13
The Border Patrol says the flood of thousands of illegal minors across the southern border isn't merely a troop of sweet kindergartners, but gangster traffickers and enforcers of Mara Salvatrucha -- known as MS13. Border Patrol agents say MS13 graffiti has been found in the area, as have gang members themselves. "We have six minors in Nogales who have admitted to killing and doing grievous bodily injuries. One admitted to killing as young as eight years old," an agent told Townhall.com's Katie Pavlich. "They are being held for placement in the U.S." MS13 is heavily involved in human trafficking, with profits of reportedly $7,000 a head to smuggle people across the border. The truly innocent children sent across the border end up as collateral damage.Comment | Share
Don't miss how HHS doesn't verify the status of families with which it places illegal minors, a Marine general's assessment of the existential threat and Obama's no photo-ops lie.
Dems Draft Hobby Lobby Bill
Harry Reid this week said Congress has "so much to address in the coming weeks" -- like "do[ing] something about the Hobby Lobby legislation [sic] we need to correct." Reid's Democrat colleagues are wasting no time trying to make this a reality. Senators Patty Murray and Mark Udall drafted legislation Tuesday to "override the Supreme Court decision on contraceptives," according to The New York Times. Murray blasted last week's Supreme Court ruling, claiming, "Your health care decisions are not your boss's business. Since the Supreme Court decided it will not protect women's access to health care, I will." As Hot Air's Allahpundit notes, "The reason she's making this move now is because Democrats need an angle for the midterms and, frankly, income inequality just isn't hacking it. When in doubt, push the 'war on women' crap, as boldly as you can." More...Comment | Share
About That 20 Million Figure...
According to the Commonwealth Fund, roughly "20 million Americans have gained coverage as of May 1 under the ACA [ObamaCare]." The Daily Signal's Alyene Senger explains why this figure is far from accurate: "First, the authors ... get to the 20 million by adding together 1 million young adults who gained coverage under a parent's policy, 8 million consumers who selected a marketplace plan, 5 million who purchased directly from an insurer, and 6 million who enrolled in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program. Also, the authors admit the 20 million figure does not distinguish between those who were previously insured and those who were not -- even though the previously insured would not be 'gaining' coverage but merely replacing one form of coverage with another. And what about those 5 million who purchased coverage outside the exchanges? Is it fair to say they 'gained' coverage because of the ACA?" A CBO report destroys that very assumption. In summary, "The 20 million figure sounds like a breakthrough, but the truth is the gains in coverage are not as strong as they are portrayed." More...Comment | Share
Another EPA Power Grab
"The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly floated a rule claiming authority to bypass the courts and unilaterally garnish paychecks of those accused of violating its rules, a power currently used by agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service," according to The Washington Times. Why not take this additional power? The IRS already garnishes everyone's paychecks for taxes, not to mention penalties. And we all know how trustworthy that agency is. The Times notes the case of a Wyoming homeowner who built a pond on his rural property and was fined $75,000 by the EPA. Now the agency is evidently claiming the power to take those sorts of fines right out of your paycheck, and to do so without review because it isn't a "significant regulatory action." We'll bet people on the "giving" end disagree. More...Comment | Share
$100B in Improper Payments
CBS News reports, "By its own estimate, the government made about $100 billion in payments last year to people who may not have been entitled to receive them -- tax credits to families that didn't qualify, unemployment benefits to people who had jobs and medical payments for treatments that might not have been necessary. Congressional investigators say the figure could be even higher." CBS is also careful to note the Obama administration has reduced this waste, fraud and abuse since its peak in 2010. But part of the reason for the drop is the increase in what Obama would consider "proper" payments -- more people are supposed to be getting checks from Uncle Sam. That's not a model for success. More...Comment | Share
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
All Together Now: It's Not a Gun Problem
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In an editorial, the Post opined, "We can only hope that the bloody numbers help in tipping the balance toward eventual enactment of common-sense gun laws." But two of the deaths the Post exploits were teenagers -- "a 14-year-old and a 16-year-old who died in gun battles with police got their hands on a .44-caliber revolver and a semi-automatic handgun, respectively." Those teens certainly didn't acquire their guns legally, so the Post's call for "common-sense gun laws" is an empty one for these two young men and others like them. The two also "died in gun battles with police," which indicates there was more at play and that they were stopped by police.
The Post also pointed to "gun violence" in other cities like New York, where 12 were shot over the weekend. The editors lamented, "It is innocent people in these cities and countless other localities marked by gun violence who must bear the consequences of Congress's abdication on gun control."
Indeed, innocent people are suffering, but the violence is perpetrated by criminals -- primarily gangs -- not law-abiding citizens. The editors even link to a story in the LA Times which gives some key information on the Chicago shootings: "Many of the shootings, which began about 3:30 p.m. Thursday, took place in some of the most violent South Side neighborhoods. Five people were reportedly shot by Chicago police, including two who died." Furthermore, "Chicago has become the poster child for urban violence, fueled by gangs [emphasis added] and involving drive-by shootings or attacks from cars on other vehicles."
Yet there isn't a single mention of the word "gang" in the Post's editorial. Nor do anti-gun groups like former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's new Everytown for Gun Safety or Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America spend a moment or dollar focusing on gangs. They'd rather take guns from law-abiding citizens than deal with gangs -- or better yet the broken families and government-fostered poverty that create those gangs.
Another important tidbit from the Times ignored by the Post: "[H]omicides have actually been going down since 2012 when the city surpassed 500." Last year, the city saw the fewest homicides in 50 years. That's good news, though not nearly good enough.
In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Chicago's outright ban on handguns, and in January, a federal judge ruled unconstitutional the city's remaining ban on gun shops within city limits. Still, the Windy City has the toughest gun control laws in the nation and Emanuel wants to make them even tougher. "The city of Chicago does not have a problem of too few guns," Emanuel declared in May. "There are way too many guns from shops in Cook County and from neighboring states that come into the city of Chicago. On any given weekend, our police officers take more guns off the streets than either New York or [Los Angeles]."
It should be obvious, however, that the problem isn't guns. Criminals have had no trouble obtaining firearms in spite of Chicago working overtime to keep them from the law-abiding. Gang-bangers won't be deterred by a waiting period or a background check or a magazine-capacity limit. If Emanuel and company are truly interested in reducing violence instead of merely restricting constitutional rights -- a big "if," to be sure -- they'll address the root causes of gang violence. Hint: It's not caused by inanimate objects.
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White House Lectures Israel About Peace
Embracing a foreign policy that makes Neville Chamberlain look like Attila the Hun, Barack Obama and his administration keep taking step after step to alienate our strongest ally in the Middle East and support those who seek destruction of Israel --- and us.Read the rest here.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- Victor Davis Hanson: Hypocrites Take a Selfish Stance on Border Crisis
- Cal Thomas: Chicago: A Town That Won't Let You Down?
- Larry Elder: Privatize Social Security
- Ann Coulter: Tea Party: Learn From Al Gore
- John C. Goodman: ObamaCare Is Costing A Lot More Than You Think
OPINION IN BRIEF
Plato (429-347 BC): "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."Historian Victor Davis Hanson: "[Nancy Pelosi] lectures about the need for near-instant amnesty for thousands streaming across the border. But Pelosi is a multimillionaire, and thus rich enough not to worry about the increased costs and higher taxes needed to offer instant social services to the new arrivals. Progressives and ethnic activists see in open borders extralegal ways to gain future constituents dependent on an ever-growing government, with instilled grudges against any who might not welcome their flouting of U.S. laws. How moral is that? Likewise, the CEOs of Silicon Valley and Wall Street who want cheap labor from south of the border assume that their own offspring's private academies will not be affected by thousands of undocumented immigrants, that their own neighborhoods will remain non-integrated, and that their own medical services and specialists' waiting rooms will not be made available to the poor arrivals. Have immigration-reform advocates such as Mark Zuckerberg or Michael Bloomberg offered one of their mansions as a temporary shelter for needy Central American immigrants? ... What a strange, selfish and callous alliance of rich corporate grandees, cynical left-wing politicians and ethnic chauvinists who have conspired to erode U.S. law for their own narrow interests, all the while smearing those who object as xenophobes, racists and nativists."
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Columnist Cal Thomas: "On Fox News Monday night, Juan Williams faulted the 'black church' for not doing more to rescue African-Americans from cycles of violence and poverty. While he didn't make the connection, I will. Too many 'reverends' have traded eternal truths for temporal power. While not ignoring slavery and discrimination, most once preached messages about righteousness, sin and redemption, which brought changes in behavior. Too many modern 'reverends' have made their bed with the Democratic Party, which has delivered their people from nothing, and has mostly kept the poor mired not just in economic poverty, but a poverty of spirit. ... The solution is not external, but internal. No one can respect another person's life and property until he respects himself. And that respect comes only through a spiritual awakening, which no politician has the power to create."
Fred Thompson: "Despite the IRS spending $4 billion on IT contracts, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen blamed "declining budget resources" for Lois Lerner's lost emails. Yeah, for another couple of billion he could have lost the rest of them."
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team
Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform -- Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen -- standing in harm's way in defense of Liberty, and for their families.
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